Once Upon A Faerie Tale
by brick-red-wall
Summary: Faerie tales are child's play. Or at least that's what Lady Lily thought until her life practically became one. AU. Old plot, different story.
1. Huh?

**Hey!! Another story, I know. This is a multi-chapter fic, and this is the first chapter! Thought that was hopefully obvious. I really hope you like it. And don't forget to review so you can tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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Lady Lily was in great distress.

She was enduring what most would call a dream, but what _she_ considered a nightmare.

Prince James fancied Lily, but Lily did not wish to be fancied Prince James. Thus, this created her distress. And when someone is distressed, they tend to get pimples on their forehead, and who wants to see a lady with a forehead that looks like spires on a castle?

Prince James fancied her, and that was every girls' dream, as not only was he royalty and rich, but extremely charming and handsome. And what about this made Lily stressed? Why, the fact that she did not wish to be fancied by Prince James. She didn't want to see Prince James. Ergo, she didn't want to breathe the same air as James, while every girl in the kingdom was falling at his feet to just breathe his air.

Now, why, when Lady Lily was a smart, sensible, and pretty Lady, did she not want him to fancy her, and why did she not fancy him?

And the answer was simple. Well, really only to Lady Lily. No one else quite got her reasoning.

Lady Lily did not fancy Prince James because she thought he was arrogant and egotistical. And he knew that he was charming and handsome, which made the condition worse.

And like I said before, no one really got that...

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	2. The Beginning

**Back! Again. both this cahpter and the first one beta'd by my wonderful friend callernumber16onz100.Hope you like this chapter.**

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It all started when Lady Lily Evans was born. But I don't think you wanna go that far back. So we'll start when Lady Lily first met Prince James.

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Lady Lily wasn't a Lady quite yet when she first met Prince James, and she didn't know that he was a Prince. So we shall call them Lily and James.

Lily was sent to a prestigious boarding school to learn her manners and her calligraphy and grammar, and things that rich children of the High Court learned at school. James was sent there as well, seeing as he was also a rich child of the High Court.

They met on the train to this school, which is called Hogwarts. James was a short child, as was Lily, and they weren't quite as tall as the other children their age, so they became friends. Don't ask me what this has to do with being friends, but that was what I was told as to why they were.

Then James made new friends, friends that were boys, and they convinced him that girls had cooties and were not to be friends with. So he drifted away from Lily.

Then it got let out that James was the Prince, and he became arrogant, and every girl that hadn't fancied him before began fancying him. Except Lily, who was still mad at him for ditching her, and saw the arrogance, and didn't like it.

So they went to school, the two of them always fighting, and then they left, and Lily went off to become a Lady and Prince James went off to learn how to be King.

It was Prince James's 19th birthday when the two met again.

Lily was now a Lady and Prince James was now ready to be King, once his parents died.

And it was at Prince James party that they met and Prince James began to fancy her.

And then they met again and again and again, and then Lady Lily realized they kept meeting on purpose, because he had planned it, and then she realized that he fancied her.

And that is where are story begins.

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**Please review.**


	3. Why are we having a ball? To torture me?

**Chapter Three! Thanks to my wonderful beta islington bus no. 199 and callernumber16onz100. And it's Tee-ah-nah. Oh! And I am changing the title next chapter to _Once Upon Faerie Tale_.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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Lady Lily really isn't looking forward to the ball that her father is holding in three weeks. She isn't even sure why he is holding it. But he is holding a ball and she must go, seeing as the daughters and sons of the host and hostess have to go.

And because the King and Queen are invited to all balls, and they go to most, they must bring their sons and daughters. And since Prince James is the son – the only one – of the King and Queen, he must go to Lady Lily's father's ball.

So she is really not looking forward to it. Not at all.

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"Lily! Petunia! Go get ready for the ball! Celine and Tiana will be up to help you!"

Lady Lily sighed. If she hated balls, then she hated getting ready for the balls even more. She really liked Tiana, but that was about it, and Tiana helped her get dressed every morning anyway.

Balls meant super tight corsets, extra large skirts and too many petticoats. That was just her outfit. Then there were the super polite table manners, making sure she ate with the right spoon, fork, and knife, dancing with complete strangers... there were just so many bad things about balls. She couldn't think of a single thing that was good.

There was a knock on the door, a servant's pattern of knocks. Tiana.

"Come in!" Lady Lily called. The door opened and in stepped Tiana, carrying a clean dress with a big skirt, many petticoats, and a super small waist where her corset was going to be pulling her in until she was breathless. And of course, the dress was ultra low cut. As if a corset pulling her tight wasn't enough to make her breasts look bigger there was also a low neckline showing more than Lady Lily normally cared to show.

But besides that, the dress was gorgeous. So, okay, there was something good about balls: gorgeous dresses. Lady Lily loved looking at all the other Ladies' dresses.

Lady Lily's dress was a deep green, as always (it brought out her eyes), with lace bordering the sleeves. There was a plain white sash tied around the waist, bow in the back, toward where her right arm would go. Add a pair of white gloves and a white necklace, most likely pearl, and she was all set.

"Miss? Are you all right?" Tiana's voice called, interrupting Lady Lily's thoughts. Lady Lily sighed and nodded.

"Just fine, Tiana," she replied. "So, are we gonna put this dress on me now?"

"Of course, Miss." Tiana assisted Lady Lily into her corset, her dress and all the other things that needed to be put on, and then styled her hair.

"What do you think, Miss?" she asked as Lady Lily turned to look in her mirror.

"Well, aside from my corset being way too tight and my breasts hanging out, I look lovely!" Lady Lily replied breathlessly.

Tiana tittered. "Sorry Miss, it's my job! And that's how you ought to look," she said amusedly.

Lady Lily scowled. "I know. And that is basically why I feel so unpleasant. I hate balls."

"Now don't say that!" exclaimed Tiana, horrified. "Balls are fair things. How I wish I could participate in them as you and your sister do. I would love to eat the fancy food, dance with handsome men, and to wear a dress such as that! You are so lucky to be born into a rich family with such a high class! Often the other girls and I pretend to live such as you do while we are down in the kitchens waiting for something to–!" She quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "I have said too much! I am so sorry, I know we shouldn't do it, we all do, but it can be so boring and we all dream about it!"

"That is okay, Tiana. I won't tell. It is a natural thing to wish to be someone you are not and to do something you can't," Lady Lily replied sympathetically.

Tiana smiled. "Thank you, Miss."

Lady Lily smiled back.

"Now are you gonna go show 'em what you've got, or what?" Tiana asked grinning, gently forcing Lady Lily out the door.

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Most of the guests wouldn't arrive for another 20 minutes, but Lady Lily had to be in the ballroom now anyway with the rest of her family, including her father, her mother, and her older sister Petunia. Lady Lily didn't like sitting around waiting for guests to arrive before balls, she never had.

She always tried to strike up a conversation with one of them, but it never seemed to work, so instead she normally resorted to sighing a lot.

She sighed. And when no one said anything to her, she sighed again. She fiddled with her necklace, a simple pearl necklace, to match her belt, and resorted to sighing another time.

She spent the next twenty-five minutes doing the same thing, until finally one of her friends arrived and she was engaged in actually doing something and greeting guests.

A man asked her to dance after another five minutes, and after a look from her mum who was nearby, she accepted and walked onto the dance floor, glaring at her friends who were grinning at her.

The man held her closer than she would have liked, and tried to make small talk the whole time.

She glanced numerous times at her friends who were still standing around. They were watching her and the man dance around the room.

When the song was over she went back to her friends and berated them for thinking she would actually hit it off with that man. And even if she had, Prince James would not have allowed it; he would have taken her for his own. Or at least tried.

Her friends laughed. They knew how much Lady Lily thought Prince James fancied her. Of course many girls thought that simply because they fancied him so much that they wanted to believe it was true. But Lady Lily didn't even like him.

They weren't really sure what to think.

But then again, they had never been in the same room when Prince James and Lady Lily were in the room together, or at least interacting in some way so they had no evidence.

So when Prince James arrived with the King and the Queen and Prince James walked straight over to Lady Lily and her friends and asked Lady Lily to dance, their suspicions were confirmed.

Lady Lily was not happy though. She knew what it meant to be asked to dance by a Prince. You had to accept, or your family could be charged with treason or something of the sort, maybe not quite as harsh.

She smiled a strained smile, hoping it didn't come out to Prince James as a grimace. He didn't notice though, and she accepted, albeit grudgingly.

Her mother was beaming and her friends were smirking and Prince James was grinning as if she had just agreed to let him court her. Which she had not.

"How are you, Lady Lily? I haven't seen you in awhile," Prince James asked as they danced.

"Fine, Your Highness. Even though we met just five days previously," Lady Lily retorted.

Prince James chucked regally. "I find you greatly amusing, Lady," he admitted.

"I suppose that is a good thing. Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to me. I mean, who wants their head chopped off for not being amusing?" She smirked and Prince James chucked regally again. "Not everyone is amusing. Some just aren't. No matter how sad it may be."

"I would never chop your head off, even if it didn't amuse me as it does. A head as yours is too pretty to chop off for such a reason. Or at all," Prince James remarked suavely.

Lady Lily had the decency to blush. Or at least, found the decency in her dislike for the Prince.

"You must not flatter me, Your Highness. I turn an awful shade of red that clashes horribly with my hair."

"To me, it just adds to your beauty, which seems almost impossible to me. You are quite beautiful as is," he replied.

"I asked you not to flatter me, Your Majesty. I can feel myself turning an awful color. I can just picture myself," Lady Lily pretended to blush again.

"You look gorgeous, love," Prince James differed. "But now, as our dance is ending I must say good-bye and hope we dance again later this fine evening."

Prince James bowed and led Lady Lily back to her friends, smiling all the while.

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"Who knew Lily?! Who knew Prince James fancied you?"

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**There. I thought that it was a good place to end it. Maybe not, but I ended it there anyway. The next chapter will be more of the ball. Maybe they will dance again. Maybe they won't. It is awful fun to write, so they probably will. Thanks so much for reading and please review.**


	4. When Will You Leave Me Alone?

**Previously _Unwanted Fancies. _I hate writers' block. And you must too, seeing as you have been anticipating this chappie and I have not been writing it because of writers' block! But finally!!! More ball. And more . . . surprises are in store for this chappie!!! (And, I don't remember why, but I found in the last chapter that I accidentally spelled (twice) chuckled 'chucked.' Terribly sorry!) So let's begin.**

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"I told you guys he fancied me. I knew!!!" Lady Lily said.

"Well, besides you, goofy. He was absolutely all over you," Lady Ellette said.

"You should have seen the look on your mother's face. She looked utterly delighted that _her _daughter was dancing with the Prince!" Lady Arlene said humourously.

A few of her friends giggled.

Lady Delia sighed. "Isn't he so very dreamy? I don't understand why you don't fancy him, Lily. I'm certain every last girl in the kingdom would kill to be in your position."

Lady Ellette nodded.

Lady Bethy smirked. "I know I would. That boy is just too handsome for his own good. I would _love _to dance with him!" she said.

Lady Lily glared at her. "The problem is that he knows that he's handsome and struts it."

"So you admit you think he's handsome?" Lady Arlene asked.

Lady Lily blushed.

"And anyway," Lady Bethy said, "he can strut if he wants to. And he is the Prince. He's allowed to do anything he wants as long as it doesn't break any laws."

Lady Delia nodded. "He's very smart, too," she said.

"Why are we all of a sudden talking about Prince James's virtues?" Lady Ellette asked curiously.

"Because he has so many of them!" Lady Arlene said with laughter.

"And he's coming this way!" Lady Delia announced.

"Hello again, Ladies," Prince James said smoothly with a bow.

"Hello Prince James," they chorused, curtsying.

"May I steal Lady Lily for another dance?" he inquired politely.

Lady Arlene giggled. "Of course," she said. The other Ladies nodded and Lady Lily walked to the dance floor with Prince James.

As they began dancing, Lady Lily caught a glance at her friends, who were giggling and waving and chattering to each other behind their hands. Lady Lily glared at them.

"Lady Lily," Prince James said. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Lady Lily turned her head to look at him. "Of course, Your Highness. Why shouldn't I be?" she replied with a grin.

"That is a very good question. So, how is your mother? There must be a reason for throwing a ball. I have witnessed my mum doing it many times and she always seems so stressed," he said.

"My mother? Oh, she's doing fine. She absolutely adores throwing balls, and after seeing what was going on this month, decided that she should throw one. I, of course, would never be able to throw a ball for no reason. I doubt I could plan one at all!" Lady Lily said lightly.

"I'm sure you would plan a lovely ball," Prince James replied.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty," Lady Lily said.

"Lady Lily, I must insist that you call me James. I get tired of all the formal name calling that accompanies my high stature," Prince James urged.

Lady Lily scowled internally and forced a smile at Prince James. "Thank you for that honour, Your Ma- I mean, James. As you most likely noticed, it will not come naturally. I believe I haven't called you James since 7th year, almost 5 years ago."

"Please try, Lady Lily. I would so much greatly prefer it if you did," Prince James said.

"I will, Yo- James. I will try as best as I can," she smiled forcibly again.

"What a great distress, Lady Lily. The song is over, and as much as I would love to dance with you for another song, my mum told me that as Prince, I am not allowed to and must 'mingle'. She also said something about it only being polite to all the other girls that want to dance with me..."

Lady Lily smiled politely and thanked Prince James for the dance. He walked her back to her friends and once he had left, she groaned.

"If he continues to insist on dancing with me, tonight is going to be one long night!" she muttered.

Unfortunately, Prince James did insist on dancing with her all night, much to Lady Lily's chagrin. He seemed to believe she actually _did _think him to be amusing and enamouring.As if.

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**Finally I finished it!! After the ball is in the next chapter. Please review! Please, plea– whoa! I was almost begging. Begging bad. Sorry. But please, do review! **


	5. The Invitation

**Sorry for the wait. Thanks to my betas, islington bus no. 199 and ****Oekaki.**

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She sighed. That stupid boy was always bothering her. Except he wasn't a boy and he wasn't really stupid. And it wouldn't be right if anyone knew she thought that. Because that 'stupid boy' was really the Prince and you can't call the Prince stupid and get away with it.

Unless, of course, you're really good friends with the Prince and are just teasing him, and he knows that you are teasing him.

Except that Lady Lily wasn't really good friends with Prince James and she wasn't teasing, and if she was, he probably wouldn't know that she was teasing him.

The ball had been horrible. She had spent the whole thing dancing with Prince James against her will or sitting around and listening to her friends teasing her about dancing with Prince James. Also against her will. Like she_ wanted_ to be teased.

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"MOTHER!!!! Mother, where are you?!" Lady Lily yelled through her house. She had decided she was going to ask her mum how to make a boy stop fancying you, and was now looking for her.

She stopped the young servant girl passing by. "Hanna, darling, do you know where my mother is?"

The girl looked shyly up at her and nodded promptly. "In the ballroom, Miss. I believe she is supervising the clean-up from last night," she replied in a small voice, curtsied quickly and walked hastily away.

Lady Lily shook her head slightly. _That little girl has been working in this castle for the past four years and she is still too shy to talk to me, _she thought to herself as she walked briskly to the ballroom.

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"Mother, I need to talk to you," Lady Lily said at first sight of her mother.

Lady Isobel Evans was a pretty Lady, even after all her years of being the mother of two girls and the wife of a prominent official of the High Court. She was watching the maid clean up from the ball that had been held in the room the night before. She had bright cerise hair like Lady Lily, and light blue eyes like Lady Petunia.

When she heard her daughter call her, she turned towards the direction of the noise.

"Lily, whatever for?" she asked.

"Boys," Lady Lily stated simply.

Lady Isobel laughed. Lady Lily had always been a strong girl, and had never once asked her for advice on such a subject as . . . boys.

"Mother! It is not a humourous situation!" Lady Lily said sharply.

"I'm sorry, Lily. It's just that you have never before come to me for advice on such subjects as boys," Lady Isobel replied lightly.

Lady Lily huffed in indignation. "Seriously, Mother. I need your advice."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. What do you need to know?"

"When a boy fancies you, or appears to, how do you turn him down politely without excessively hurting his feelings?" Lady Lily asked.

"You don't. And even if there was a way, I would not tell you, Miss I-Hate-The-Prince-With-A-Passion," Lady Isobel replied.

Lady Lily looked at her, bemused. "How did you know?" she inquired.

"Oh, love. It's obscenely obvious," Lady Isobel said. "Any woman ought to be able to pick it out."

"Thanks, Mother. What a service you've provided," Lady Lily said sarcastically and sulked away.

The thought crossed her mind that Lady Petunia might help, but the image of her older sister, who she couldn't be bothered to talk to on her own will, reminded her of their hatred of each other.

She sighed heavily. _Why are matters with boys so much harder once they don't have cooties?! _She thought vehemently.

_If only. . . if only he took the hint! If only he left me alone! _She thought and went back to her room and read her book in a horrible mood, wishing Prince James could just shut up and go away.

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When the invitation arrived, Lady Lily couldn't feel any worse.

_Dear Sir Evans and Family,_

_ You are cordially invited to tea with the Royal Family next Tuesday at 2 o'clock. We look forward to having you._

_ Sincerely,  
__ Master Rollington,  
__ Head Coordinator to  
__ The King, Queen, and  
__The Prince_

Joy!

Yeah, right. And them being the Royal Family, you couldn't just politely decline. So Lady Lily was forced to go have _tea_ with Prince James.

When Lady Petunia had seen the invitation, she had been ecstatic and could not wait to go. She spent almost all of her time in her room, deciding what she was going to wear in front of the Queen. And the King and the Prince, but they were hardly as important to impress, or so Lady Petunia thought.

And of course, her parents were pleased as well since they always found spending time with the Royal Family very pleasant. And even if they weren't Royal, Lady Lily knew she would be forced to go.

Oh, the distress of her family being so amicable.

Lady Lily was definitely not looking forward to this tea.

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**Okay, I hoped you enjoyed it and please review. Hopefully, it won't be so long for the next chapter!**


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